Google Just Opened Its First Retail Outlet In London (GOOG)

Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 30, 2011

It already has the most popular smartphone platform in the world. With the purchase of Motorola, it will have a credible hardware arm.

And now, it's opened its first retail outlet.

As the London Evening Standard reports, it's just a small "pop up" store within a U.K. computer retailer called PC World. Right now, it only sells Chromebooks and headphones, and it will only run for a few months until Christmas.

Latest business videos

It's just an experiment for now. A spokesperson told the Standard "It's something Google is going to play with and see where it leads."

But this is exactly how Microsoft got into the retail game a few years ago: by creating "Microsoft stores" within big outlets like Circuit City, Best Buy, and — yes — PC World in 2008. It learned what it needed to know.